agentf1

I am currently helping a friend wet sand his black C6 Z06 corvette. I thought that some of you might enjoy seeing the pics. It was sanded with 2000 grit first and then went over with 3000. Scott is a perfectionist and has sanded every square inch of this car. Weather permitting we will be doing some more sanding and buffing this weekend and I will continue to post pics as the project progresses. I cannot take alot of credit for this as I had came in on the tail end of the sanding, I think Scott already had over 60 hours into sanding when I started to help him. Scott is also writing an article on his experience, I will make sure that I get everybody a link to that as well when it is completed..

Here is the car before. I think you will agree it is freaking awesome...



The problem...



The sanding process...

agentf1

Getting ready to buff...



A few panels buffed out...









more to come...

ZaneO

Brave, brave, brave!

Looks like you two are doing great work so far

agentf1

Yes, he is VERY brave. I am sure it is going to knock everybodies socks off when it is done. It will be taking somebodies 1st place/best in class, if not best in show trophies this spring. I am pretty sure he will be bringing it to Corvettes at Carlisle also.

It has also given me the encouragement I needed to start wetsanding some of the bad spots on mine also.

RDVT4ME

Man, it takes guts to attempt that on a factory paint job when you don't really know how much clear has been applied. It does look awesome!!!! Just seeing the sanding pictures is pretty scary, but the end product really looks great.

-Bob

agentf1

If you have any questions for Scott directly please go to the original thread on the Z06 forum, he is a great guy and I am sure he would be more than happy to answer them for you, he is also a member of Z06vette.

http://www.z06vette.com/forums/showthread.php?t=93629

Or you could ask here and I will give it my best shot providing it is a generic question about the process.

LT4POWR

DPG

ive been scared and inspired to sand mine a bit. It needs it bad.

jrp

x 2

Great work; I doubt I could muster the 'nads to undertake that even on my daily drivers.

okies93

From some of your other threads I would have never doubted your ability to polish this one out. Wet sanding is a beotch and very time consuming but the final shine is top notch. Which looks like you are on the way.

What kind of time are you looking at? Also what type of compound are you using on the first go round?

agentf1

To date he has been using 3M Finesse It but (providing it does not snow) this weekend we are going to give Zaino Fusion and Menzerna polishes a try on it. We are also going to finish the car with Z5/Z2Pro.

thewaxman

AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!

It does takes some to do that, especially on a new car. The outcome is incredible. GREAT JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!

C5naples

Keep posting pics. Can't wait to see the finished product.

gmblack3

Frank, are you guys going to use any Menzerna 106ff/085?

Can't wait to see the finished product.

Humanoid 2.0

Very nice

bugman

So tell me the basics -
Does this mean you are removing all the clearcoat, then getting a smooth basecoat paint surface by sanding it?

or are you just sanding the clearcoat itself to a smoother surface?

Then my other questions:

• if you're actually sanding the base coat, how do you protect it once you're done? do you re-clear coat it?
• if you're NOT sanding the base coat, then how do people claim to get rid of orange peel this way? Isn't the OP in the base coat itself?

I'm sure you can enlighten me on this process. Great pics - and thanks for the post !

agentf1

Yes they are the Menzerna polishes we will be using. We are also going to try/use Fusion for our final buff. We are kinda experimenting with a bunch of different polishes.



Whats happening Bugman. We are hoping and praying that we are only sanding the clear coat until all of the orange peel texture is gone but still leaving enough clear coat on the surface/base coat to protect it and give us a perfect level shiny mirror like finish. So far it appears as if there is plenty of clear coat left on the car and that there will be no need to re spray anything. Worst case scenerio if we were to accidently go through to the base coat we would need to re spray a panel with clear but we DO NOT expect that this will happen. The OP is usually only in the top layer of clear coat. Base coat will usually never have OP since when sprayed with clear coat the solvents will usually flow the previous coat. I am not an expert in this area but this is what I have heard from friends that are painters. When the surface of the clear coat is level it will look like a mirror. Of course we will be finishing and protecting our shine with Zaino products since they include the most powerful sun-block available in a paint protection system: UV-40. It is literally sunscreen for your car. Bring your vert on by, we can hook you up next.

bugman

REally cool, agentf1 -
I guess you know you've hit base coat when you see color coming up, rather than just a milky white material while wetsanding.

other than that, isn't there some kind of device you can use to gauge the paint thickness?

It's a pretty courageous process. Would be fun to try on my vert - but wow, lots of hours, and I need the car to get to work everyday. Hell, I DO ride a motorcycle most days in the summer though . Hmmmm.....

agentf1

That is correct Bugman. They do have paint depth guages but I think they are in the thousands of dollars especially for a plastic car. If you go through you will see a dull/shiny spot where it is just base coat which is usually followed by many profanities. But we are NOT GOING TO GO THERE.

rmitchell242

my black c6 is in the shop right now getting the clear sanded off and new clear shot on and buffed out should look nice when its all done ,looking for perfect finish

good luck finishing the Z